Ryan Asks Feds to Not Brief Clinton on Classified Info

Typically both nominees are given briefings by intelligence officials
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 7, 2016 12:33 PM CDT
Ryan Asks Feds to Not Brief Clinton on Classified Info
House Speaker Paul Ryan is asking the director of national intelligence to keep classified information away from Hillary Clinton.   (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Paul Ryan says Hillary Clinton has shown she can't be trusted with sensitive information and shouldn't be given classified information briefings after becoming the Democratic nominee for president, Politico reports. Ryan sent a letter to James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, on Wednesday saying there needs to be repercussions for Clinton's use of a private email server and asking federal officials to forego briefing her. According to CNN, Ryan points out in the letter that FBI director James Comey called Clinton's handling of classified information "extremely careless." Typically, both nominees are briefed by intelligence officials during the campaign.

"There is no legal requirement for you to provide Secretary Clinton with classified information, and it would send the wrong signal to all those charged with safeguarding our nation's secrets if you choose to provide her access to this information," Politico quotes Ryan as saying in his letter. Ryan wants to know Clapper's "rationale" if he declines to keep classified information from Clinton, CBS News reports. Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, calls Ryan's effort "as predictable as it is absurd." He argues that intelligence briefings are given to the nominees as much for the country's sake as for their own. They help them to not "adversely affect the national interest." Though "with Trump, the question isn't whether the briefings should occur, but whether they would do any good," CNN quotes Schiff as saying. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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